Opportunity:

A life sciences customer needed an accurate heater for an injection system to view soft tissue in patients. The customer makes Angiography and CT scanning equipment used by hospitals and laboratories to view soft tissue in patients. For example, an Angiogram can be used to determine if there are blockages in the veins around a patient's heart. Once these blockages are found, the doctor will recommend bypass surgery or an Angioplasty (balloon or balloon with a stint) procedure.

Problem:

To detect these blockages a fluid is injected into the patients veins. This fluid is designed to be opaque to x-ray or CT scanning devices. Due to the contrast in the x-ray image, a technician can easily view the areas where the fluid has filled the normal vein and the area that the fluid is blocked from entering. Thus the fluid is known as contrast media. This fluid is very thick in consistency (or of a high viscosity) and the consistency changes considerably with temperature. In fact, the material will change to be one half of the 60ºF viscosity at the 98ºF viscosity. Temperature stability is key to delivering consistent test results

Solution:

The customer's injection system is the most advanced contrast delivery system available today. By combining state-of-the-art technology with greater ease-of-use, the Injection System gives the operator superior control of contrast enhancement. The complete control of precise timing between injections and scans means superior diagnostic images for improved diagnostic accuracy, patient after patient, time after time. Watlow's syringe heater is custom designed to fit snugly to the outside surface of the syringe with a molded pod on the back housing the custom on-board controls. Prior to the procedure, the syringe is placed on the injector head, and the syringe heater is clipped on to the syringe to heat the fluid to the required temperature. This heater is able to consistently maintain the injection medium at the correct temperature